Frank Price Dead: Former Studio Chief At Columbia & Universal Was 95

Frank Price , a writer and producer who rose to chairman and CEO of Columbia Pictures before becoming head of Universal Television, died Monday. He was 95. His son, former Amazon Studios president Roy Price, said his father died in his sleep.

The elder Price was a TV writer-producer during the heyday of westerns, including serving in producer roles for more 100 episodes of The Virginians and 75 of Pat Garret-Billy the Kid series The Tall Man. He later was an executive producer on the hit dramas Ironside and It Takes a Thief, starring Raymond Burr and Robert Wagner, respectively.

In the late 1970s, Price pivoted to features, rising to president and later chairman and CEO of Columbia Pictures. While there, he demonstrated a remarkable eye for both commercial and artistic success